Chapter Thirty Nine: End Of Darkness
{Third POV}
Metal and Gale both leaped at Slender Woman with extended legs. They both managed to land a kick on her face, causing her to cry out before she took a swipe at them. The robotic hedgehogs dodged, and landed on separate platforms. Slender Woman summoned more Proxies to attack them while her tendrils lashed out everywhere.
As a giant Proxie leaped at Metal, he summoned a lunar blade to slice it in half. He started swinging left and right, cutting down every Proxie that came his way. “Well, at least these things aren’t that hard to kill!”
“Don’t get overconfident Metal!” Gale shouted as he blasted a Proxie in front of him. “Doing so will get you killed.”
“Oh lighten up mr. serious, no Proxie that she summons could really be a threat to us!” A few of the Proxies seemed to growl to Metal, as if offended, before becoming Proxie like versions of the two warriors. They both stopped and stared at their new opponents.
“You just had to say that, didn’t you?”
“Hey, they may be able to copy forms and abilities…” Metal readied his fist and charged a Proxie version of him which mimicked his movements, their fists clashed but the Proxie was blown to pieces. “...but they can't copy power!”
Gale nodded and grabbed a Proxie him by the neck. It curled into a spinball in an attempt to escape but Gale just used this and threw it at another Proxie, ripping it to shreds. “Is it just me or are we becoming far more brutal fighters?”
“I don't know what you're talk about.” Metal stabbed his hand through a Proxie and ripped out its heart.
“Was that sarcasm or obliviousness?”
“Huh?” Metal grabbed another Proxie, stabbed his hands through opposite sides of its torso before ripping it in half.
“Ok now I know you're just fucking with me.”
“Am I ever not?” While he was distracted Slender Woman appeared behind him and threw a punch.
“Metal look out!”
As the punch was about to hit Metals eyes glowed red. He instantly turned around and met the punch with a headbut. Slender Woman staggered and grasped her hand in pain as bolts of red energy were sent into it and from the force of the impact. His eyes began to glow brighter as he jumped into the air and threw both hands forward.
Four large streams of Apocalypse Magic shot out of his arms and flew into the giant. Everything was still for a moment before Metal held out an open hand. “Rapture.” He clenched the hand into a fist and Slender Woman screamed out in pain as her body was being torn apart from the inside.
Metal deactivated the attack before it could kill her, knowing what that would do to the one he was trying to save. Gale punched away another Proxie before flying over to him. “Dude...what the hell happened to you? That attack was just savage, even for you and I've seen the crap you've got in your head.”
Metals eyes returned to normal, save the one filled with Apocalypse Magic. “I'm getting used to this new power, and this isn't just some kind of energy you shoot out and it explodes. This power is something more…”
Gale stared at him with concern. “You're not gonna let this power get the better of you again are you?”
“No.” Metal lowered his hands and relaxed his body slightly. “This isn't something that can corrupt me again, it isn't forcing itself into me or trying to cease control. Like I said before, it feels natural.”
“Of course it does.” They heard Slender Woman say shakily as she regained her composure. “Do you seriously have no idea what that power is to you?”
“No but I can already tell that you aren't going to give me a straight answer,” Metal said before fireing a blast of apocalypse magic at the Slender Woman.
“Ugh! Insignificant little… that apocalypse magic make quite the annoyance.”
“Really? Because I find it pretty useful.” Metal felt the poet surge through him once more as it erupted from his body killing the surrounding Proxies. “Are you done wasting our time? Or are you just gonna keep putting up a pointless struggle that we all know will just end up with you losing and us walking out of here with Lisa safe and sound.”
“I think you forget that this is my mind, my world! And in it, I am a goddess!” Slender Woman swung out with her arm, faster than Gale and Metal thought she could, and knocked the two robots off their platform and into the storm. The electricity in the air was overwhelming, and lightning flashed all around them, some a little too close for comfort.
“Well shit. So, what now Gale?”
“I’d say our best chance of ending this is finding Lisa and waking her up. We do that, and she can take down the Slender Woman a hell of alot faster than we can.”
“Alright, and how do we do that?”
“Well if I had to guess, I’d say Slender Woman has trapped Lisa deep in her own subconscious. If we could somehow get to her, then I theorize my being there will be enough to awaken her.”
“Really? What about me?”
“Metal, this has all happened because Lisa thought I died. Normally in our family that isn’t too much of a problem because we have our ways of coming back. However, Lisa does not know this, thus seeing me dead has caused her to sink into her own subconscious, allowing Slender Woman to be free.”
“Right then, so where do we start looking.”
“We need to find a way to get deeper into her mind, but first I suggest you dodge.”
“Huh?” Metal turned to see a massive fist impact with him, sending him flying. “Okay what the hell?”
“Remember, this is Slender Woman’s mind. We’re playing by her rules in this world. Up until now, she’s been toying with us, but now things are going to get serious.”
Tendrils started coming out of the clouds at a rapid pace, Gale and Metal doing their best to dodge them. Eventually, they came out of the clouds and started heading towards a mess of branches and lights. It kind of looked like they were inside of a brain, and the branches were all neurons connected together, but they were all black with blue outlines. Bolts of electricity jumped from neuron to neuron.
“Okay, where the hell are we now?”
“This is most likely Lisa’s memory bank. All those lights are her memories.”
“Wow, she’s got a lot of them.”
“She is immortal.”
“Right right. So, will we find Lisa in here?”
“No, but an entrance into Lisa’s subconscious should be around here somewhere.” The two landed on their feet, then stood and looked around. “This way.”
As they started to walk, Metal looked around.
“Man, this place is amazing. How come my mind didn’t look like this?”
“Lisa specializes in control of the mind. She most likely organized her mind in such a way as to both better defend it from intruders, and to assure that Slender Woman doesn’t take complete control of her mind’s defences.”
“Defences?”
“Indeed. Before Slender Woman came, Lisa’s mind had hundreds of defences to ward off intruders. Thankfully, they recognized me as friendly, and let me in. If they had not, then I wouldn’t be in here, as it is impossible to break into Lisa’s mind by force, or by sneaking in. It’s too well defended.”
“So, Lisa made it so that when Slender Woman comes, those defences are deactivated.”
“Correct. This was probably done so that people from the outside could come in and stop her if Lisa herself could not do it on her own.”
“Huh, Lisa’s more prepared for something like this than I thought.”
“Indeed.”
“So an entrance to Lisa’s subconscious should be in here somewhere?”
“Correct.”
“But if that’s true, why would Slender Woman lead us here?”
“Slender Woman only has control in certain areas of Lisa’s mind. She must not have know how close we were to Lisa’s memory bank, and accidently dropped us in when she swiped us off the platform.”
“So, we’re safe here?”
“Not exactly. Lisa’s defences only deactivate in areas that Slender Woman can control. Her memory bank’s defences are still active.”
“Then why aren’t we seeing any?”
“Because we are defined as friend to her defences. However, that can quickly change if we aren’t careful.”
“Don’t do anything stupid, got it.” The two continued walking along, making their way to the center of the mess of neurons. Eventually, they found a neuron with a couple of holes in it. “Is this it?”
“Probably. Now we have to be carefull. Lisa’s subconscious is where Slender Woman is kept when Lisa is in control. She’ll know the place better than we do, and will have total control over everything. She could straight up kill us if she wanted to.”
“Then how are we supposed to find Lisa?”
“We rush in, and hope for the best.”
“That sounds like a plan that a Gale with emotions would come up with.”
“It’s our only option. Besides, I’m still me, just less connected with my emotions now that I no longer have a body.”
“Alright, if there's anything I'm good at its rushing in blindly and somehow coming out on top. Let's do this.” Metal sent a red glow over his body and grabbed Gales arm before dashing into the fractured neuron. As soon as they enter a large tendril came out of nowhere and attempted to stab the two. But the tendril was blocked by an invisible force around the two.
“How'd you do that?” Gale asked as he let himself be dragged along by Metal.
“Something I learned quickly with this new magic, it's useful in the physical world and the mental world. I'm not sure exactly on how I activate it, but from what I can tell it shields me from anything Slender Woman can throw at me, as long as the field stays up of course.” Metal explained as a red bubble flashed around them before becoming invisible once more.
“Once we get into the real world again we are looking into this magic.”
Metal shrugged and kept running full speed, the shield around them blocking various attacks coming from their enemy. “How long is this hallway?!” Metal groaned as he had now been running through the same corridor for ten full minutes.
“It would appear that Slender Woman is purposely making it longer, you could be running forever and we'd still make no progress.” Gale explained as he raised a hand and blasted a tendril away.
Metal just kept running as he began to think of a way to counteract their enemies manipulation. “What if all of her focus was on attacking one of us?”
Gale thought for a moment before nodding. “That may distract her from creating a longer pathway, but we'd have to split up.”
“That's the idea!” Metal came to a stop and chucked Gale further down the corridor. Immediately massive amounts of tendrils appeared and surrounded him, only for glowing red ropes to wrap around them and hold them back. Gale looked to Metal who was holding the ropes in his hands. “Go! Get Lisa! I'll hold her off!”
“You could die facing her alone!”
“I came in here knowing full well that I could die, but if it gets you two out of here then I don't care! So just...GO!!!” Metal sent a wave of energy over to Gale which pushed him forward.
Slender Woman appeared and attempted to peruse Gale, only to be hit by her own tendrils which Metal was now puppeteering.
“Oh no you don't you demon bitch, I ain't done with you yet!” He yelled as he let go of the ropes and took a fighting stance.
“I'm not wasting my time in you! I heard your little plan and I'm not giving this body back!” As she attempted to escape Metal threw his arms out to the side and covered the corridor in a red barrier, temporarily preventing her from leaving that area. “Alright, I am destroying you once and for all! And after I do that, I'll kill Gale and then move onto those little friends and lovers of yours!”
Metal stood still before sighing. “Making it extremely hard to not kill you y’know…” His body was coated in red energy before he charged forward.
Gale ran as fast as he could, rushing down the hallway trying to find Lisa.
‘There’s a 53% chance that she’s down this way,’ Gale thought. ‘Course, there’s also a 47% chance that I’m still going the wrong way, but I can only hope.’
He ran along the dark path, eventually making it to some sort of room. Gale stopped and looked around. He spotted Lisa, but not in the way he thought he would have.
Instead of seeing her all chained up like he had expected, Lisa was curled up in some large, black, circular bed.
“Odd. I would have figured her to be imprisoned, not asleep.” Gale walked up to the bed, intending to wake Lisa up and end all of this. Then he hit a force field. “Knew it wouldn’t be that easy.”
Gale walked around and inspected the invisible forcefield, trying to come up with a way to bring it down. He tapped on it once more before calling out.
“Lisa? Lisa!” No response. “Figures, it’s sound proof.”
Gale took on last look around before he noticed something. Up above was a really fancy chandelier that was holding up curtains that draped around the sides of the bed, and it was lined with candles. Gale flew up to it. He noticed that it wasn’t blocked by the force field, and began his inspection, finding a chain at the top.
“Hmm, perhaps this could lead me to whatever is keeping Lisa trapped.” Gale followed the chain, up and up and up until finally, he came to the ceiling. There he found some sort of monster, holding the chain in its mouth.
Acting quickly, Gale killed the beast before it did anything, causing it to drop the chain. The chandelier fell, crashing on top of the force field and breaking it. The chandelier then dissolved, as did the drapes, leaving only the bed Lisa slept in. Gale floated down next to Lisa and gave her a light shake.
“Lisa, time to wake up.”
“You know something?! I'm actually starting to have fun with this!” Metal yelled like a madman as he dashed to the side to avoid a huge tendril striking the shield.
“Could you just hold still and let me kill you already?!”
“Nope!” Metal snapped his fingers and created an explosion right on the Slender Woman's face, causing her to fall backwards. “Oh come on, after all I've thrown at you THAT is what gets you to fall?! Pathetic…”
Slender Woman got to her feet and glared at him. “What's pathetic is that a descendant of Apocalypse is actually holding back trying NOT to kill!”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Slender Woman just growled and lunged forward in an attempt to tackle him, only for him to quickstep out of the way and kick her in the back, causing her to fall onto the cold floor with a grunt.
“Guess you ain't budging on that subject, oh well, I'm sure I'll get some kind of cryptic explanation from someone later. For now…” Metals other eye began to glow red with energy as he cracked his knuckles. “...daddy needs to express some rage.”
Slender Woman growled and began to grow into a giant. She then attempted to swipe him with a claw only to have him stop the hand with his own. The two struggled against each other, both glaring at the other with pure rage in their eyes and non-existent eyes.
Metal smirked and snapped his finger, causing another explosion, this time on her face. She screamed in pain before throwing her hand up, causing multiple black spikes to rise from the ground and stab him. He grunted and teleported off the spikes, breathing heavily as the wounds were filled with his magic. “Is it strange that I'm becoming numb to being stabbed?”
When Slender Woman swiped him with a claw, he jumped back and crouched.
“I wonder if I can still…” He curled into a ball and began charging up a spindash, the spinball being made of glowing red energy which grew larger around him as he charged it up before blasting into his enemy's chest, sending her flying into the magic barrier Metal had set up, electrifying her. He broke out of his spinball and landed just in front of the now normal sized Slender Woman.
His other eye returned to normal as he watched his enemy breath heavily, her hands and knees on the floor with her head hanging low.
“Well, this is certainly a sight, and here I thought you were supposed to be extremely powerful.” He shook his head and formed chains out of his magic before tieing her down and sitting down. “Guess it's up to Gale now.”
Slender Woman clenched her fist and growled. Then, suddenly, everything shook.
“The hell?” Slender woman froze, seemingly knowing what that shaking was.
“No… no not now! Not now! I was so close!” Slender Woman broke the chains that held her down and turned around to face a figure, walking towards them in the darkness.
“So, this is what you’ve been doing. Taking over my mind just so you could steal Metal’s power and destroy everything. Heh, you’d work hand in hand with the nightmares.”
’Lisa?’ Metal wondered.
“You! How did you get up?!” Slender Woman cried out as Lisa stepped out from the shadows.
“Simple, he woke me up.” Gale walked out of the darkness, standing beside his girlfriend. Lisa looked towards Metal and smiled. “Metal, good to see you as yourself again.”
Metal remained silent and looked away slightly.
“Grr, shut up! Why are you all acting so happy. Now I’m free to kill you all!”
“Ah ah ah Slendy, you know the rules. Now that I’m awake, you get to go back to sleep.”
“No! Fuck your rule over my mind! I’m taking it all back and destroying everything you hold dear! I will-” Suddenly, Slender Woman was gone.
“Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah. My mind, my rules, my decisions.” Lisa turned back to Metal and Gale. “Now, I hope you two have enjoyed your expedition into my mind, because now you two need to leave. It feels weird having you two in here for so long. Anyways, hope you didn’t see anything embarrassing!”
“Wait wait wait, aren’t you excited to see that Gale is okay?”
“Huh? Oh I knew he was going to be fine, or at least, I remembered that. But seeing Gale’s body had made me forget that for a bit. Before I remembered that he would be fine, Slender Woman took advantage of my sorrow and took over my mind. But as I lay there in my subconscious, I realized that he would be fine. Besides, I’m still waking up, so I’ll probably get all emotional when Gale wakes back up in the real world.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Welp, bye you two!” Then everything went white.
Metal re-entered his physical body and jumped off of Lisa as she began to take control of her body once more.
“Well, that was quick! But do you mind giving me a hand here!?” Alduin called out.
Metal turned around and saw the dragon being swarmed by a horde of Proxies. Metal clenched his fists and charged up his new magic. “CHOAS...BLAST!!!” Protective bubbles formed over Auldin and Lisa as a huge explosion of red energy destroyed everything wishing a half mile radius.
When the blast died down, they were all left in a large flat crater. When Metal looked down at himself, he saw that his body had changed. He was now slightly taller, his metal was now shiny, his left eye still glowed with his magic, he had a sliver ring around front his jet engine, his quills were slimier and he now had a scar over his chest where he had been stabbed multiple times.
He shook the red mist off of his hands and sighed. “Of course there's a scar…”
The bubbles around the two other displaced disappeared. Auldin looked to Metal with concern. “How did you get this strong in so little time?” He asked.
Metal held up an open palm and a red flame began to burn above it. “Something I was apparently missing…”
Auldin could feel the power radiating off of him, the same power he felt that was full of destruction and evil, but now sat calmly inside of his fellow displaced’s body.
The two turned around when they heard Lisa grumble as she slowly got to her feet, holding her head in pain. “Ow...why does my head hurt so much?”
Metal runner the back of his head nervously. “Sorry about that, kinda had to break into your mind that get you out of there...in more ways than one.”
Lisa groaned, feeling the after effects of her body being possessed and the usage of the mad modes. “What happened while I was…” Suddenly, everything that had been seen or heard by Slender Woman during the time she was in control came rushing into her mind. She looked to Metal, remembering the look on his face when Slender Woman had tricked him and how he was so determined to get her back. “Metal…”
Metal looked away and sighed.
She walked over to him slowly, concern washing over her as she saw his new form and the scar on his chest. The memory of Slender Woman trying to possess him flooded her mind. She got on her knees and got just below eye level with the robot who looked away. She looked at his chest and brushed her hand against the scar. “Metal, your-”
“It's fine.”
“What she did...you could have-”
“I said it's fine.” He dismissed. “It hurt, but it's fine.”
“No, it's not fine. You've done too much, you've been hurt far too much in such a short amount of time!” She placed her hands on the side of his head and stood up, making him look up at her. “Metal...you do too much for others without asking for anything. Please, just let me know how it really feels…”
Metal stared at her for a moment before closing his eyes. “...it hurts…” Lisa saw what looked like a black tear forming under Metals eye. “It hurts so much…” He opened his eyes, staring right into hers, she saw pain in them, she saw exhaustion in them, and she saw coldness in them. “I can't keep doing this...but I have to...because no one else has the power to do so…”
Lisa was about to speak when Metal pulled away from her and looked at the ground.
“There are very few thugs that keep me from going insane. Rainbow, Luna, you...Samatha...and the fact that I need to help people, that I have the power to make a difference...all of that was almost taken away from me today…” Lisa put a hand over her mouth as she saw oil tears falling down Metals cheeks. Auldin just kept quiet, knowing how much pain the responsibility brought, and how much can be taken from one person. “I've watched three of the people I love almost die in the past twenty four hours...I've lost my home...I don't even know what I'm going to do next! There's no winging it this time! There's no do random shit for fun anymore! there's no peaceful solutions! THERE’S NO ENDING!!!”
Metal sat down and looked to the ground.
“There's no ending…” Lisa and Auldin looked to each other before walking away from him to talk in private.
“What do we do? I don't know what to say to make him feel better.” Lisa admitted sadly.
“There's nothing that can really be done, other than ending all of which causes him to be this way, which is what we're all fighting. Perhaps, after Xram and the Nightmares have been destroyed, and peace is brought about, he can finally be at peace. For now...he will have to feel this way. We can support him, show him that we care and appreciate what he does for everyone. But those feelings will always exist in him.”
“There has to be something though, something that can give him hope…” Lisa thought for a moment before an idea formed in her head. “What if we got his family back together?”
Auldin nodded with a soft smile. “That might help.”
“His sister is missing somewhere in the multiverse, his mother is somewhere around her, I don't know where his father is, and his girlfriend from earth is probably dead right now, but that one is an easy fix on Metals part.” Lisa explained.
“I see…”
“I'll go find his mom and dad after I leave Gale back in his pod to heal, you see about finding his sister, she's named Marceline I think. She'll be a female Metal Sonic most likely. And I think Metal is already going to go try to heal Samantha anyway.” The two nodded and went off on their own ways, ready to complete their set tasks.
Metal watched them go, having heard their entire conversation. “They forget I'm a robot far too often…” He sighed and held out his hand. Suddenly, the chaos emeralds appeared and floated around him. He used his power to take the Apocalypse Magic that had been trapped inside them when he had tried to use them in his beast state.
He got up and teleported down to the underground shrine, where the shards of the master emerald lay scattered around the room with the body of a young girl lying among them. Metal looked into his memory and scanned a typical unicorns telekinetic ability. Using this, his hand glowed dark blue as he used his magic to lift the shards and the girl into the air.
The shards began attaching to each other as the emerald returned to its former glory. Metal then set the emerald in the middle of the shrine and levitated Samantha's body into his arms. “I've almost got you...just a little longer.” He spoke to her lifeless body and he ascended the steps upto the large green jewel. The chaos emeralds began to separate and float around the entire shrine as he walked.
He gently lay her body down on the top of the ancient gem and brushed her cheek with his hand.
“Just hold on a little while longer…” He took a step back she raised his hands up into the air as he began to command the emeralds power. “Just wait…”
An hour later
Auldin, Lisa, Gale, Cosmo, the ball of light Jasper and another figure appeared outside the cave leading to the shrine. Auldin shrunk down to his human form in order to fit and while Gale and Lisa hugged each other closely after what had happened.
They began to walk down the dark caves, the way lit by Gales robotic eyes. Once they reached the large dug out area which held the shrine they stopped. Metal was at the top of the stone structure on his knees, the emeralds still and the place in dead silence. Samantha's body remained unmoving, laying still on the master emerald.
Lisa began to walk forward, with the others following her. Once they reached the top Lisa and Gale placed their hands on Metals shoulders comfortingly. “I should have guessed…” He spoke emotionlessly. “Guess it was too late.”
“It's alright man, we'll find a way to get her back.” Gale tried to comfort him, but failed.
“Worst case scenario here, my children and I can fight of DEATH to get her soul back.” Auldin stated quietly.
“And what if DEATH doesn't have her soul?” Metal asked.
“Then...I don't know...I'm sorry.”
Metal clenched his fists and glared at the emerald. “You know what? I AM SICK OF THIS!!!” He suddenly got to his feet and placed his hands on the master emerald. “YOU’VE GOT INFINITE POWER INSIDE YOU, USE IT!!!”
The chaos emeralds closed in and began violently spinning around the shrine. The others stood back as the room began to shake.
“WE ARE ENDING THIS, I’M TIRED OF LOSING PEOPLE I LOVE, I’M TIRED OF BEING SCREWED OVER BY WHATEVER FUCKING DEITY IS CONTROLLING ALL OF THIS, AND I AM SICK OF THIS FUCKING STORY ARC!!!” The emeralds all began to glow violently as they expanded, becoming the super emeralds. “I CONTROL YOUR POWER, I COMMAND YOUR CHAOS ENERGY, SO I COMMAND YOU TO SAVE HER!!!”
The group shielded their eyes as a bright wave of light burst out from the centre of the room.
After the light finally died down, the group slowly opened their eyes. They watched the chaos emeralds shrink back down and fall onto the ground. Looking up, they saw Metal standing still in front of the master emerald. Suddenly he tipped backwards and was about to fall down the stone steps when Lisa reached a tendril over and caught him. Pulling him over to the group, they saw the lights in his eyes had gone out and his body fell limp.
“I guess all that energy that was released tired him out.” Auldin said as he checked that Metals life force was still stable.
“Hey shouldn't have been knocked out though, he's used more energy than that before…” Gale stated as he looked up at the emerald.
“His chaos drives are still damaged, he used all the power he had left to command the emeralds.” Lisa explained as she opened the hatch on Metals chest, revealing the broken gems that powered his body.
Cosmo walked over to him and pulled out the two broken drives and placing new ones back into him before closing the hatch. ”It will take him awhile to wake up, he just needs to recharge.” She brushed her hand over his cheek and smiled softly. ”You did well my child. So well.”
“Hey, don't I get to see him?!” A young female's voice, just slightly higher than Lisa's, complained. Gale turned to the female Metal Sonic, who was slightly shorter, had light blue metal, had curved quills, her body had a bit of a curve to it and had light blue eyes.
Cosmo smiled at her daughter and nodded. ”Come on then Marcy.”
Marcy walked around the others and came up to her unconscious brother. “Damn...he looks like he's been through a lot…”
“You have no idea…” Lisa and Gale groaned in exhaustion.
Marcy ignored them and placed a hand on his scar. “You've been throwing yourself into danger...haven't you?” She sighed and hugged his body. “It's been too long...I really missed you…”
The group looked up at the shrine as they heard moaning. Samantha fidgeted a little bit before slowly opening her eyes.
“He did it.” Lisa sighed in relief.
Samantha slowly sat up and stretched out, groaning as she felt sore all over. Once she was done she looked around at the unfamiliar location until her eyes fell on the group. “I guess...that fight between Metal Madness and Solaris wasn't a dream…”
”Indeed my dear. It was in fact quite real.” Jasper spoke as he floated up to the revived girl.
“You're...that voice that was speaking to me while I was asleep, right?” She asked.
”Yes, I am. But you were not asleep Samantha, you were dead.”
Samantha looked at him confused. “Wait...what? I was...dead?”
The group all nodded and Gale motioned to the unconscious Metal who Lisa had lay down on the grass. “Yes, and he's the one that risked everything to try and get you back.”
Samantha looked to the sleeping robot and tilted her head. “Why did he do that? He doesn't know me.”
“Trust us when we say he knows you better than anyone.” Lisa said as she walked up the shrine. Samantha retreated slightly as she approached, causing her to stop. “Oh don't be scared, I'm not like Slender in any way other than body. Name's Lisa.” She greeted while holding her hand out.
Samantha hesitated, but felt a sense of familiarity from her, easing her worries. She took Lisa's hand and shook it. “Samantha.”
“Oh I know who you are, he's told us a lot about you.” Lisa said with a smile as she pointed to Metal with a tendril.
“But how could…” It took a moment, but Samantha eventually put two and two together and gasped. “Wait, Metal?!”
”Yes, that's him.”
Samantha jumped off the master emerald and rushed down the steps. Once she reached the bottom she got on her knees and looked at him with concern. “He's just sleeping, don't worry.” Auldin explained. “It took a lot for him to bring you back to life. Let him have his rest, he's earned it.”
Samantha looked to the group and back to her sleeping love. She gripped his hand in hers and pressed her forehead against his. “Thank you…”
A little while later, Author and Marx appeared and looked around the broken world. “Dear God what the hell happened here?” Marx asked as he looked around.
Author closed his eyes and frowned. “It seems that Metal finally gained control over the Apocalypse Magic inside of him, as well as absorbing a large quantity of it.”
Marx sighed and snapped his fingers, making his staff appear in his hand. “Well, let's find everyone and get them back to Gales world while we fix all this damage.”
Gales universe
“So, you guys just travel through different universes on a daily basis?” Samantha asked as the group walked through a portal into the peaceful universe.
“Pretty much, but the one who would travel most would be Metal, he's the only one of us other than Marx that has the ability of to naturally open portals to other worlds.” Lisa explained, Metal cradled in her arms.
“So, what has he been doing all this time? I'm sure there's a lot to tell.”
Gale stopped himself and her, letting the group go on ahead while he gave her a quick overview of all of Metals adventures, achievements, heroic and villainous moments. “So yeah...he hasn't had the greatest run, the fact that he's even still sane after all of this is a miracle in itself.” Gale finished.
Samantha had her hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes. “He really did those things?”
“Yeah...saved and helped us all more times than I can count. He's a pretty good guy, but he does have his flaws, big flaws that he needs to work on.” Gale added. “But...I can't really blame him for those faults. Most of them were created by interfering forces...others the result of bad experiences.” As Samantha was about to respond he turned away and began walking. “Come on, we're gonna wanna be there for when he wakes up.”
As they walked, a very important question came to Gales mind. He stopped and turned to Samantha with a nervous look.
“Um, quick question...how good are you at sharing?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, you see, when Metal came to his Equestria, he was trying to get over you and move on...as a result he ended up forming a herd with Luna and Rainbow Dash…”
Samantha facepalmed and groaned. “He and I are going to have a very long conversation about this…”
“Well, I'd best be getting back to my own world to prepare for the wedding. See you all there.” Auldin said goodbye as he walked through the portal to his home.
“See ya bro.” Gale waved as the portal closed.
Samantha watched as Luna and Rainbow Dash looked over Metal, making sure he was alright. To not be left out, she walked over and set Metals head in her lap while holding the sides of his head.
The others either chuckled or rolled their eyes as the three looked at each other with slightly territorial eyes.
Omega and Gamma looked to each other and sighed happily, glad that one two of their old friends had returned to them. Having both Samantha and Marcy back with Metal filled them with relief, knowing they would help him keep a steady mind and keep him healthy.
Suddenly, the lights in his eyes flickered. The group all gathered around as they flickered on and off again until finally they remained on. He quickly sat up and head his head in his heads. “Gah...God damn that hurts…”
“You ok there?” Gale asked with his arms folded.
“Nope...definitely not…” He stood up and the group backed up, giving him space, except for four of them. Metal stretched his arms out and yawned. “Man...it feels like a nuke was dropped on my head…”
“I think the energy of the emeralds were far more powerful than any nuke could ever be.” Gale commented. “A nuke probably wouldn't do that much to any of us to be honest.”
“Yeah yeah whatever…” Metal grumbled. “Wait.,.what happened to-”
“Metal?”
Metal froze as he heard the voice of Samantha. “Sam…” He quickly turned around and saw her standing there with a smile and tears in her eyes. “You're...you're alive...it worked…”
Samantha nodded. She was about to say something when Metal instantly brought her into a hug. Lisa smiled at this and placed a hand on her chest. Samantha wrapped her arms around him as he held her tightly.
“Never...leave me again…” He spoke quietly.
“Trust me...I'm not going anywhere.”
Suddenly Marx and Author walked out of a portal and smiled. “Well, we've fixed your world and everyone is moving back in. I think you'd all best get back and start preparing for the wedding.” Marx suggested as he kept the portal open. The ponies, mobians, Gamma and Omega jumped in first, followed by Luna and Dash, Marcy snuck around Metal and jumped in, soon followed by Samantha who had managed to pry herself away from Metal, then lastly Jasper and Cosmo jumped through.
Metal walked up to Gale and Lisa and brought them into a hug. “Thank you...so much…” The two smiled and returned the embrace.
“Your welcome little bro...and thank you for fighting for us.” Lisa spoke softly.
“We really appreciate it dude, don't you forget that.” Gale added as he pat his friend on the back.
Metal pulled away and nodded. “I won't, don't worry.”
“Well, after all of this, I'm going to go take a nap, because I am tired as hell.” Lisa groaned before teleporting away. Author and Marx disappeared, leaving only Metal and Gale.
As Metal walked towards the portal Gale called out, causing him to stop. “You still want Lisa...don't you?”
Metal remained silent, only taking the last few steps before disappearing into the portal, which closed behind him.